We've been covering Patrik Syversen's upcoming Norwegian slasher film Rovdyr for some time now, noting how the film - just the second slasher film ever produced in Norway - seems to be taking a much harder edge approach than previous Norwegian slasher picture Fritt Vilt (Cold Prey). That impression was borne out by comments Syversen made to us in coversation and now it's definite. Rovdyr has just become the second Norwegian film in the last twenty years to be rated 18+ in its home country, the previous title to get the rating being Pal Sletaune's excellent psychological thriller Naboer in 2005. So, yes, this one's rather bloody.

The summer of 1974. Four young friends; Camilla, her boyfriend Roger, Mia and her brother Jørgen have planned a relaxing weekend out in the woods. But now they’re in the middle of nowhere, and during the long ride, the four are beginning to rub each other the wrong way. Stopping at a remote truck stop, the four of them get into an altercation with some locals. As they leave the truck stop, they pick up a hitchhiker who, after only a short ride, demands that they stop the car. She is terrified. Someone is out there. Someone who is out to get them. All of a sudden they’re ambushed and left unconscious. When they wake up, they are deep into the woods. There is no one around, only dark trees. Then the sound of a hunting horn. Someone is out hunting. And they are the prey… Previous disagreements are pushed aside by more immediate concerns. Their new status as prey forces them to make numerous moral choices, essentially how to save one’s own skin. It’s now all about survival, whatever the cost…